Running Away from Him
by TheProdigy'sWife14
Summary: "I don't understand. Every time I take a step forward, she takes two steps back. It's like she's running away form me." Ino glared at him "You know for a Hyuga, you're pretty blind, and stupid. Sakura was in love with you! But not only did you break her heart, you insulted her and her family!" Ino lowered her head "But it's not just you. She's pushing everyone away..."
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi! TPW14 is back! This is that SesshomaruXSakura story I was telling you about a few months ago. (Don't worry, I didn't quit on Indirect Romeo and Juliet. I just have a little writer's block). Tell me what you think of this story so far. And without further ado, I give you the prologue. Enjoy! XD :D**

**D- Me: I don't own anything. There, are you happy now Sesshomaru-kun?**

**Sesshomaru: hn**

**Me: Can I tochuch your tail no-**

**Sesshomaru: No**

**Me: *pouts***

Summary: "I don't understand. Every time I take a step forward, she takes two steps back. It's like she's running away from me." Ino glared at him "You know for a Hyuga, you're pretty blind, and stupid. Sakura was in love with you! But not only did you break her heart, you insulted her and her family!" Ino lowered her head "But it's not just you. She's pushing everyone away..."

AGES FOR PROLOGUE:  
Neji-8  
Sakura-6  
TenTen-8  
Rock Lee-8  
Everyone else-7 (So yea, Sakura is the youngest. I hope this helps!)

CHAPTER 1: Prologue

Little six-year-old Sakura ran as fast as her little legs could carry her to the Hyuga compound. The Hyuga guards nodded their heads at her, but she paid them no attention as she ran past the gates. The whole Hyuga estate was like another home to the little rosette, mainly because her own compound, the Haruno, estate was just as big. Sakura's family was one of the biggest and richest clans in Konaha. Her family is mainly known as merchants, travelers, businessmen, and sometimes even royals. Since the Harunos are always moving, they are rarely seen. Sakura, along with her brother Raku and her parents are the only ones who are permantly living in Konaha. Then again, no one from Sakura's clan are comfortable living there. Everyone from Sakura's family are nekogamis (nekos), or demon cats.

Because of the demon fox attacking the village eight years ago, most of the villagers and the shinobi hated them, but they hated Sakura the most since she is the heiress of their clan and she will be the strongest of them all. Even though she was bullied and made fun of by a lot of people, she did have her over-protective aniki, okaa-san and otou-san along with her closest childhood friends Ino-pig, Tennie-chan (Ten-Ten), Lee, Kiba and Akamaru, Shika (Shikamaru), Hinata-chan, Neji-kun, and especially Naruto that cared for her, so she was happy for that.

Now she was heading to the branch side of the manor to meet Neji, she had heard about the deaf of his father and she wants to make him happy. It was the least she could do since Neji was always there for her when kids and even adults would come to bully and hurt her, and she really did like Hizashi-sama. Sakura also came to tell Neji about her growing feelings for him. She was afraid of telling him earlier because she heard that Tennie-chan liked him too, and they would often argue about who he rather be with. Ino-pig influenced her to just tell him how she feels and just let him decide, they all will still be friends no matter what happens.

By the time Sakura found Neji, she was in the Hyuga training grounds. Neji was hitting a dummy fiercely ignoring her presence, but Sakura didn't mind much. She waited a few minutes to get his attention, but when he still ignored her, she did the next best thing. "Oi...Neji-kun?" the rosette asked shyly.

Neji stopped stabbing the dummy with a kunai to glare at Sakura. "What?" he said in an icy tone. Sakura was surprised. She knew when Neji was angry, but he was never angry with her. What could she have done?

"Ano...I wanted to **apolWogize** for your-" Sakura started.

"I don't need your ." Neji snapped as he glared at her. Sakura looked hurt.

"Are you ok Neji-kun?" she asked. He grunted and went back to training. Sakura blushed at what she was about to say and started to look at her sandals. "A-ano...I-I just w-wanted to say...-"

"Kami, do you ever SHUT UP?" Neji growled as he turned to glare at the rosette. "Don't you see me training here?" Sakura was too shocked to reply. "Don't you have anything better to do than bother me, like train for yourself? Did your parents teach you anything? And everyone wonders why your so WEAK."

There was a long, awkward silence before Sakura gave Neji a low bow, her eyes focused on the ground. "Gomenasi...tsumimase (AN: IDK if I spelled this right. Sorry!) I was not aware that I was a burden and being a nuisance to you. (AN: Big vocab for a six year old, huh?)" Sakura finally looked at him, and he saw a fake smile. "I won't bother you anymore." and she turned and ran.

Neji felt a sting in his chest, but he ignored it and resumed training. 'She's a distraction, I need to get stronger...I want to be left alone..."

}O{

Sakura ran as fast as she can to Ino's house since both of her parents are on a business trip and aniki was on a mission. She was living with the Yakamanas until one of them came back.

"So, what happened?" Ino said as Sakura came in her room. That was when Sakura burst into tears.

"H-he hates me..." she sobbed as she began to tell Ino everything Neji said. Ino was angry.

"Well, forget about him then! He was a jerk anyway." Ino said, trying to make her best friend feel better. "There are better guys than him. Now, do you want to watch a movie?" Sakura hesitated for a minute, then she nodded. Just then, Ino's mother knocked on the bedroom door.

"Sakura-chan! Your brother is here!" she said through the door.

"Okay, I'll be right there!" Sakura called back. "Thank you!" Sakura went to go wash her face I'm cold water. She didn't want her Aniki thinking she was crying.

When the rosette came to the front door, she saw her sixteen year old brother who had long crimson red hair and-like her- bright green eyes. Perched on top of his head was a pair of red cat ears that were black at the tips. He was still dressed in his ANBU gear from his mission. Sakura could tell that he was troubled.

"What's wrong aniki?" Sakura asked, as she gave him a welcome back hug. Raku smiled as he hugged his little sister back. "I'll tell you later." The elder Haruno looked at the Yakamanas. "Thank you for taking care of her while I was away." he said bowing to them.

"Oh, the pleasure is ours!" Ino's mom said. "Just come back if you need anything!" Raku nodded as he turned to leave. Sakura waved goodbye before she followed her brother.

"Aniki, what's wrong?" she asked again as they entered the Haruno manor. Raku sighed as he picked Sakura up and placed her in his lap as they day on the couch in the living room. "Sakura-chan kaa-san and tou-san were killed. They died yesterday..."

"Wh-what? Why? Wh-what happened?" Sakura barely said as she started to cry again. Raku rubbed her back in comfort.

"No one knows. They were attacked at different places...it was all so sudden." Raku gave Sakura a tissue. "Now Sakura, I need to tell you something important, so listen." Sakura nodded as she clung onto her brother's shirt. "Since this has happened, I need to stay in America to finish the work they started. Do you want to come with me, or do you want to stay here?"

"I...I'll go with you to America." Sakura finally said.

"Are you sure Sakura-chan? What about your friends?" Raku asked. Sakura thought about all of her friends, then she thought about Neji, not knowing what he is to her anymore.

"They will understand when I tell them. Besides family stays together..." He rosette said as she gave her big brother a painful smile.

Raku smiled and he ruffled Sakura's hair "Alright then, lets get you packed up. We leave tomorrow night."

}O{

"NANI! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR LEAVING!?" Naruto yelled as he, Hinata, Rock Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba and Akamaru, and TenTen were seeing Sakura and Raku off. "Why can't you stay here?"

"A-ano...i-is it b-because of..." Hinata trailed off as she played with her fingers not making eye contact. She saw what happened yesterday at the Hyuga training grounds.

Sakura smiled at Hinata, showing her that it wasn't her fault. "No, that's not it at all. You see, my parents were killed a few days ago. I'm going with aniki so I can help him with family business."

Naruto pouted "Okay then, but you HAVE to call us!" he said.

"Yeah! And send pictures!" Ino said.

"Sakura, it's time to go." Raku said.

Sakura smiled "Okay then. I'll see you guys later!" she said waving.

"Sakura-chan, what do I say to Neji-niisan?" Hinata asked. TenTen looked at Sakura worriedly and saw a flash of pain go through her the rosette's eyes. This morning, Sakura came to her house saying that she won and Neji probably did like her better. TenTen saw the tears forming in the pinkette's eyes as she ran away after that. She ran so quickly that TenTen never got the chance to say that she wasn't interested in Neji anymore and now she had a crush on Lee. TenTen blushed as she looked at the young beast of Konaha crying about Sakura departure.

Sakura gave a fake smile "Give...give him my regards." She bowed and then she turned to leave to start her adventure in training and learning the reason of her parent's death. 'I'm not leaving because of him. I want to get stronger...for me and my family...'

**AN: How was it? Please tell me! **


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm back! I'm glad that so many people are liking this story. I'm halfway with chapter 3, so that should be up in about a week. College work has been my life lately.**

**Song of the week: Maps by Maroon 5**

**WARNING: Characters from other anime (such as Vampire Knight) may be mentioned/appear in the story. I will also write a disclaimer on those chapters in the future since they do have an impact on Sakura's history.**

**Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Naruto (I don't even want to anymore, Kishimoto is killing off the best characters!) and I don't own Inuyasha either. *Cuddles closer to Sesshomaru***

**CHAPTER 2: Neji's POV**

The first time Neji met Sakura was when he was six years old. He was with his father just coming from the training grounds and was going to get some ice cream for a treat. When they were walking by the ice cream shop, they saw a group of kids throwing sticks and rocks at a girl with pink hair.

"Go away, you freak!" a boy yelled.

"Yeah, you monster!" Another girl yelled.

"P-please...leave me alone..." the little pinkette whimpered. She covered herself with her arms as the kids started to throw rocks at her. The little pinkette flinched, but she didn't move from her position. She managed to peek over her arms we they suddenly stopped.

"Shouldn't you kids be training to protect our village instead of attacking the people that live here?" Neji heard his father say stepping in front of the girl towards the kids.

"Oh no, he's a Hyuga!" one of the kids yelled backing away "I'm out of here!" he said as he and his followers ran away.

Neji shyly followed his father as Hizashi walked closer to the little rosette. The girl whimpered a little as she scooted back from them with one arm while her other arm was wrapped protectively around a box. Hizashi kneeled in front of her and held out a hand.

"It's okay, we won't hurt you," Hizashi said. The rosette hesitated, then slowly took his hand. "Can you walk?" he asked as he and Neji watched her stumble on her feet. Before the little girl could answer, Hizashi already had her swooped in his arms. It was then Neji noticed the deep blue and purple bruises on her legs that matched the ones on her arms.

"I'm Hizashi Hyuga and this is my son, Neji," He said to the little girl "What's your name?"

The rosette hesitated "Haruno Sakura" she shy said. Hizashi then nodded with understanding as he started walking to the Haruno manor. "What are you doing out here so late?"

The little girl looked at the box in her arms "Aniki got really sick again and ka-san and tou-san are in an important meeting, so I went to get aniki some of his favorite tea to make him feel better…"

Neji stared at the girl 'She knew that she was going to get hurt because of her background and did it anyway just to get her brother some'-he looks at the box again-' mint tea?'

By then they had reached the Haruno gates and entered. Neji took notice that the place was just as big as the Hyuga manor, but there wasn't any guards at all. When Neji's father knocked on the door, a women with deep long red hair and brown eyes appeared. She look genuinely surprised to see Hyugas at her door and then looked even more shocked to see a beaten Sakura in one or their arms.

"Hyuga-san? How can I…..Sakura?!"

Sakura laughed awkwardly "Hi ka-san…"

"MOM!" Neji heard someone yell. Then he saw a teenage boy that also had long red hair, but he had a pair of cat ears on top of his head and green eyes that were filled with worry. Neji also noticed the signs that he was ill-which was the paleness of his skin and the deep bags under his eyes. He had a coughing fit before he could continue. "Sakura's missing. She's not-"

"Aniki!" Sakura said as she jumped out of Hizashi's arms "You shouldn't be out of bed in this condition. How are you going to get better?" she scorned him as she took his arm and pulled him to the direction of his room.

"I think that **I**should be the one asking the questions here," the boy started, "What do you think you're doing outside the manor when it's almost nightfall?" Their conversation started to fade as the two went further down the hall.

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience," Sakura's mother said. "Would you like some tea?"

-Time Skip- (Sorry, I'm getting bored and I'm not even half way done with this chap yet)

"Father, I don't understand," Neji said to his father as they walked home. Once Sakura's mother was done setting up the table for with tea, Sakura's father, a tall man with long pure white hair (even though he looked very young), came in and gave him some ice cream since by then the ice cream shop had already closed. He had pointy ears and he had bright green eyes like Sakura's. Centered on the top of his forehead was a glowing green crescent moon facing downwards and a smaller circle right under it. Though he looked very strict like his uncle and the other Hyuga members, he had kind eyes and smiled a lot.

"Understand what?" his father said.

Neji remembered how Sakura came back down to the family room (where they were sitting at) to thank him and his father for bringing her home. Then she went to the kitchen and came out with one bowel of strawberry ice cream in one hand and a bowel of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the other hand back down the hall where he assumed where her brother's room was. "Why did Sakura go out knowing that she would get hurt by herself just to get her brother some tea?"

Hizashi smiled "Neji, Sakura is the type of person that would do anything to help her family and loved ones, even if she gets hurt in the end. She will make a great clan leader, but she thinks that her life has little importance."

Neji nodded as he thought about the blue and black bruises that were on her arms and legs. It was then when he decided that he would protect her.

}O{

-5 years later-

The second time Neji meets Sakura (after his father's death that is) was during the 4th Hokage's funeral when some guy tried to attack Konaha during the finals for second years in high school. During those exams Naruto had kicked his butt and taught him a lesson that he wouldn't ever forget, making him see life at a different light. He, however, didn't know how to react when he saw the 12 year old pink haired girl he had been thinking about (no matter what he did) since she left with pale skin, too thin to be healthy form, and dull green eyes. Their eyes met long enough for him to see a flash of pain before she turned away.

The guilt of how he treated her last time they met punched him right in the gut. All of his anger and hurt about his father was directed to her and it wasn't even her fault. Now she couldn't or wouldn't even look him in the eye.

Before Neji could walking to her direction to apologize (after the funeral of course), a villager came and pushed Sakura to the ground.

"You monster!" he yelled "You're the reason why Hokage-sama is dead. YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED."

Neji started running in their direction when he saw Sakura at the brink of tears. Before could get to her, he saw a tall man with long red hair and pointed cat ears on top of his head grab the villager by the collar.

"Hey bastard! If you have any problems with the Haruno clan, you talk to me! DO NOT blame my sister!" he growled as he shoved the man away. The said villager scampered away in fear, but Raku paid him no attention as he helped Sakura up.

"Hey, are you ok? Don't let him get to you." He said to her softly. She shook her head as she stood up.

"But he's right," she said weakly, more tears formed in her eyes "The man that killed Hokage-sama was looking for me. It's my fault that he died…"

"SAKURA-CHANNN!" there was an orange blur that attacked Sakura to the ground (again).

"Itai...N-naruto?" Sakura said as she got up.

"You're here! You're finally here!" Naruto said as Ino, Shikamaru, Tenten, Lee, Kiba, aAkamaru, and Hinata joined them. Neji stayed back and watched behind the trees (since no one knows that he is there).

Sakura gave everyone a weak smile as they all gave her hugs "Hi guys".

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ino asked, seeing the sadness in Sakura's eyes. Sakura shook her head and gave a more believable smile.

"It's ok, I'm fine." She said.

"So you are staying, right?" Tenten asked. Sakura gave a sad smile as she shook her head. Tenten crossed her arms "Why not?"

"We still have unfinished business in America," the rosette explained "We only came to see the funeral to pay our respects."

"No, we're not having that!" Ino said. She looked at her best friend worriedly "Ever since you got to America, you stopped contacting us, and now you're not happy like you used to be."

"So, you're staying here." Naruto finished.

"But guys, I can't leave aniki to do all the work by himself…" Sakura protested.

Tenten sighed "Fine, but you HAVE to contact us ok? Just once a week to see how you're doing."

"I agree." Kiba said and Akamaru barked.

"Raku-san? C-can you make s-sure that Sakura-chan calls us?" Hinata asked shyly.

Raku smiled "Of course, and if she doesn't, she'll take the next plane back to Konaha."

Sakura showed a true smile "It's a deal".

}O{

"Hinata-sama," Neji started awkwardly when he was allowed in her room after the funeral. He gave her a low bow "I apologize about my behavior on how I treated you on the past few years. I was angry and I blamed it on you and everyone else…" he said sadly thinking of the pink haired girl. He never did had the chance to apologize to her. "Please forgive me."

Hinata walked up to Neji and gave him a tight hug. "I forgive you. Y-you know, if you are troubled you c-can come to m-me."

"Aa," Neji said, hugging her back "Can I ask you something then?"

"S-sure," Hinata said, stepping back to look at him.

"Sakura..." Neji thought about the rosette and how she looked so sad. She was different from the last time he saw her "…what happened to her?"

Hinata sighed as she played with her fingers "W-when Sakura-chan and Raku-san went to America, they saw their parents' bodies." She hesitated as she blinked away oncoming tears "W-ho…whoever killed them were monsters. I heard from f-father that they were decapitated limb from limb a-after they were cut open in many places in their bodies. The puncture to the center of their heart was what killed t-them."

Neji couldn't believe it. Sakura's father was the clan leader, the strongest of all the Harunos, and was the most peace making person he knew. Who would want to kill him and his wife so brutally?

"Sakura-chan was traumatized. Raku c-called all of us the day after. He said that Sakura-chan was taking it hard and she might not be able to c-call us all the time. She s-starting having nightmares of r-rotting bodies and feared blood and eating m-meat, not even fish! Having the l-lack of protein, e-especially since she's a neko, was making her sick. She's also b-been blaming herself f-for their death…s-something about someone is l-looking for her. Raku-san said she was in a slight d-depression."

Neji remembered how pale Sakura looked at the funeral and he became afraid for his childhood friend. "How come Raku didn't get any help?"

"He did. A few years ago, Sakura-chan w-was in a more severe condition. She's d-doing a little better n-now, but I still worry…"

Neji gave Hinata's hand a little squeeze in comfort. "She will be fine. She has her brother. Raku won't let anyone get to his little sister. They have each other's backs."

Neji admired the bond Sakura had with her brother. He promised himself that he will mend the bond they had that he broke so long ago. He will prove to her that he changed.

**AN: Yea... this sound a little cheesy to me in the end, but I have to have this here, according to my story plan. Please review! =)**


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